From these the top four competitors from each age group and each county made it through to the finals.

Almost 300 competitors battled it out assessing animals in the dairy unit at Greenmount and gave their scores and reasons to judges.

This year a farm safety element was introduced at finals day to mark Farm Safety Week, which runs from 6th to 10th July.

YFCU worked all week alongside their partners in the Farm Safety Partnership and the Farm Safety Foundation to provide themed advice and to raise awareness around different farm safety issues, with a different issue introduced each day.

Alana Buckley and Andrew Boyd from Straid YFC take time judging the cattle

Thursday’s theme, fittingly, was ‘staying safe with livestock’. With young farmers from across the six counties the audience could not have been any more relevant to get the farm safety message across.

Health and safety officers from the Health and Safety Executive of Northern Ireland (HSENI) were on hand to provide advice and guidance to members, as well as Alexander Martin, a case study involved in a livestock crush injury. Alexander relayed his story to members and reminded them to always think of their ABCs – Always be Careful, when handling livestock.

YFCU president, Roberta Simmons, Cathy Knowles, YFCU Agri and Rural Affairs chair and Robert McConaghy, deputy chair, were also on hand to provide their knowledge on the topic.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) were also on site at finals day and provided health checks for all members and staff.

YFCU would like to extend their gratitude and thanks to the PHA for the kind service they provided on the day which was graciously received by YFCU members.

YFCU president, Roberta Simmons, announced the prize winners on the day.

Roberta also thanked Ulster Bank and the representatives there on the day, Cormac McKervey and Connor McNeill, on behalf of YFCU for their support of the popular competition.

The YFCU would also like to record its continued gratitude to Michael Graham at CAFRE and his staff for their ongoing support of the event and for the use of their excellent facilities; to the judges who gave up their time to make their expertise available to the association and to all the members who helped to steward and score the event thus ensuring the smooth running of the competition.